A blog devoted to documenting racism as it occursand how society wages war against it.

Saturday, June 07, 2008

The Anti-Immigration Movement

The immigration debate in the United States has been marked by racist propaganda, bogus statistics about immigrants and wild conspiracy theories — all of which combine to dehumanize Latino immigrants and falsely portray them as disease-carrying, job-stealing criminals invading our country.

This xenophobic rhetoric — echoes of the scapegoating of new immigrants throughout American history — has seeped steadily into the mainstream, taken up by right-wing politicians and popular media figures like Lou Dobbs.

The myths and conspiracy theories about immigrants often originate within racist extremist organizations. And the vitriol heard daily on talk radio and cable TV has helped nurture a movement of anti-immigration groups as well as traditional hate groups.

The number of hate groups operating in the United States has grown to 888 — a staggering 48 percent increase since 2000, driven largely by anti-immigrant hysteria. And since the spring of 2005, some 300 new immigration restriction groups, including border vigilantes like the Minutemen and organizations that exist simply to harass Latino immigrants, have sprung up across the country. Of that number, 144 are listed as "nativist extremist" groups — organizations that do not merely seek to change immigration policy, but actively confront or harass individuals who they believe are undocumented.

Many anti-immigrant groups — like the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) — present a veneer of respectability but are deeply rooted in the world of white supremacists. In fact, John Tanton, the founder of FAIR, is considered by many to be the father of the anti-immigration movement.

At the same time that anti-immigrant rhetoric has grown more heated, violence against Latinos has grown. FBI statistics suggest that hate crimes against Latinos climbed 35 percent from 2003 to 2006.

Undeniably, this issue has proven to be fertile ground for hate groups and other extremists looking to spread their racist beliefs. That is why it is important to understand the background and motives of the groups shaping the discussion. The nation's immigration debate is too important to be defined by radical groups manipulating it for their own bigoted reasons.

4 comments:

It is not hate to be offended when someone breaks into your home. It is not hate to be concerned when those coming into your country not only spurn assimilation, but mock and ridicule your values and systems. It is not hate when we identify the root cause of the burden placed on the social infrastructure resulting in increases on the taxes of American citizens, closing of hospitals, crowding citizens out of a decent public schools education and the filling of our jails with criminals. It is not hate to protest the actions of illegals when they cause death and lifelong trauma to the citizens of this country. And it is not hate to care enough about one’s country to take a stand against a situation that is hellbent on tearing it apart.

It is not hate. It is not racism. It is not bigotry. It is not xenophobia. It is a desire for JUSTICE. It is the exercise of one’s right to protect their homes, their culture, their society and their country. It is recognition of the rule of law.Those concepts may be foreign in countries like Mexico, but they are basic tenants of life in the US. That’s why we are not a third world (yet) country and Mexico is. Mexico so abhor’s illegal immigration into its own country that it has legislated draconian measures to discriminate against immigrants through laws and practices. Want to run a business in Mexico? You are required to employ Mexican citizens as managers. Want to own property in Mexico? You can’t do it as a foreigner unless you put the deed in trust with a Mexican trustee. And even if you become a Mexican citizen, you will never be able to hold elected office because you are not a citizen by birth. Sounds more than a little like life under Islamic rule than life under a democracy.

Yes, there is hate associated with the issue of illegal immigration. But the hate is not generated by US citizens - the hate is borne by citizens of countries like Mexico.

Hate is borne by Hispanic supremacy groups like La Raza "The Race", MEChA, LULAC, MALDEF, CHIRLA, El Pueblo, La Voz de Atzlan, Zapatista Army of National Liberation and Mexicanos Sin Fronteras (Mexicans Without Borders) that believe they are superior to the hodgepodge of other races that have melted together successfully in the US. Their hate and racism should be kept south of our border. When, and only when, they are forced to abide by our laws and enter America by LEGAL means ONLY then will they ever be worthy of residing here and be considered for citizenship.

zeezil...Take a deep breath and relax.Take a moment to remind yourself how fortunate you were to be born in the USA.Next, pick up your Bible and read enough to remind yourself that humanity and kindness are important.Next, remind yourself that illegal immigrants are people; real people; flesh and blood; mothers, fathers, sons, daughters, humans - some cleverer than you or I, some kinder than you or I, most less fortunate than you and I.Finally, a message from a man who 400 years ago was more enlightened than you are today...Hath not a Jew eyes? Hath not a Jew hands, organs, dimensions, senses, affections, passions; fed with the same food, hurt with the same weapons, subject to the same diseases, heal'd by the same means, warm'd and cool'd by the same winter and summer as a Christian is? If you prick us, do we not bleed? If you tickle us, do we not laugh? If you poison us, do we not die? And if you wrong us, shall we not revenge? If we are like you in the rest, we will resemble you in that. If a Jew wrong a Christian, what is his humility? Revenge. If a Christian wrong a Jew, what should his sufferance be by Christian example? Why, revenge. The villainy you teach me, I will execute, and it shall go hard but I will better the instruction.

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